Against the Flow is a new blog that will deal with serious and difficult topics, and occasionally with softer subjects too. It will side with politics that strives to do the right thing, as opposed to favouring quick and easy answers. Rather than practising mere public relations, it will encourage journalism that seeks the truth and explores what is really going on in the community. It will praise political leaders who take responsibility for their words, actions and mistakes. It will show respect for First Nations peoples for their great strengths and for the many injustices they are overcoming. It will salute those who recognize that our planet is both burning up and drowning due to climate change and undertake to fight on behalf of Planet Earth. 

With the debates all in and the election just ten days away, what kind of Canada do we want into the future, and which party leader is best able to lead us there?

The thunder of Donald Trump continues to hang over our heads, questioning the sovereignty of our country.

Today, the Against the Flow blog is setting out the main things we value about our country and why our leadership should help us to further advance them.

It may be a surprise to some but at the top of our blog’s list is something that has not been talked about sufficiently in the current election campaign – our arts and cultural sector. This blog is picking just a few parts of the cultural sector. This is not a definitive list. We hope, though, it is enough to give us another reason to be patriotic.

Think back to our terrific contributions to the world, beginning with music. People of a “certain age” will remember Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah; Gordon Lightfoot’s In the Early Morning Rain; Ian & Sylvia’s Four Strong Winds; Edith Butler’s Paquetville;  William Prince’s, That’s All I’ll Ever Become; Great Big Sea’s Ordinary Day, Rose Cousins’  The Benefits of Being Alone, Gilles Vigneault’s Mon Pays; The BareNaked Ladies’, If I Had a Million Dollars; and finally,  and perhaps most memorably, Joni Mitchell, and her quintessential cold nation song, River: “I Wish I Had a River I Could Skate Away On.”  What a rich musical history we have!!

Then, in the visual arts, consider the deep contribution of Atlantic area artists such as Molly Lamb & Bruno Bobak, Millar Brittain, Fred Ross, Alex Colville, Mary & Christopher Pratt, Ivan Gallant, Hermenegilde Chiasson, Mario Doucette, to name a few.

Beyond the arts and culture theme, a key feature of Canada is the country’s bilingual and bicultural heritage, which is enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for both the country as a whole and New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual and bicultural province. 
The diversity of the country is also vital, welcoming newcomers into the mosaic of our nation, not the “melting pot” of the nation to the South.

U.S. President Trump basked in his own accomplishments this week as he doled out his tariffs to the world. But despite the continuing popularity at home of his mantra Make America Great Again, Canada, the World and the United States itself must be very wary of the dictums of this dangerous showman.

Just as he did at the Republican Convention last July and in his speech to the two Houses of Congress on March 4, Trump took advantage of less fortunate individuals, treating them as trophies in his ongoing campaign. 

This week he used all the skills of a Nazi propagandist, standing in front of massive Stars and Stripes flags draped on the White House. The world has not seen this type of menace since Adolf Hitler draped his Swastika’s flags at his rallies during his rise to power close to 90 years ago. 

One of the chief Nazis of that era, Herman Goring, said of Hitler at that time, the “Fuhrer is infallible.” 

Donald Trump is bashing our country with tariff after tariff, and the most serious being the 25 per cent on our automobiles and parts going to the USA. All this is very serious indeed, but the Against the Flow blog today is looking to give readers some peace and comfort with the coming of spring and the awakening natural world after a long, tough winter.

There is no surer sign of spring than the return of our fine feathered friends. Of no bird is more visible and heart warming than the reappearance of the Red-Breasted Robin. The early spring snowfall which farmers see as “fertilizer” for their crops, has not deterred the robins. For the most part, the frost is no longer in the ground, so these birds can dig their beaks into the soil to find their favoured food, earthworms.

After a long, old-fashioned winter, cold with plenty of snow, nothing is more cheering than seeing the robins spreading over the fields and indulging themselves in their special way.

Other birds that fly up from the south in springtime are the beautiful and diverse members of the warbler clan. In a little more than a month they should begin arriving. They range from the beautiful Magnolia, with black and yellow stripes, to the handsome blue and yellow Parula, to the patriotic Red Start. The warblers are a bird-watcher’s dream come true.

It looks very much like Mark Carney will be visiting Governor-General Mary Simon this Sunday to call an election for April 28 or May 5.

The CBC reports that its Poll Tracker (with an amalgam of several polling firm numbers) shows that Carney and the Liberals have moved slightly ahead of Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives, 37.7 per cent to 37.4 per cent.

The Against the Flow blog is not in the habit of breaking news stories, but what the heck, this could be the most important election in history for Canada, with U.S. President Donald Trump disrespecting our sovereignty and attempting to use tariffs to take over our country.

The new Liberal Prime Minister Carney has been steady on his feet in his first week since becoming Canada’s Prime Minister. Opinion polls show support for his Liberals has risen 17.6 per cent in a matter of days. Carney was wise in his first week to travel to Great Britain and France to meet with allies, rather than going to Washington DC to talk with Donald Trump before the U.S. President shows “respect” for Canada.

Things are looking up for Canada.

Canadians are more united and patriotic than at any moment in our history.

The country’s first ministers have made it plain that they are prepared to fight back against Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The new leader of the federal Liberal Party, Mark Carney, to be sworn in Friday as the next Prime Minister, won his party’s election with a landslide victory last Sunday.

Carney took 86 per cent of the Liberal Party votes, compared to just eight per cent for his nearest rival, Chrystia Freeland, three per cent for Karina Gould and three for Frank Baylis.

The strength of Carney’s win gave him room to manoeuvre in the choice of his cabinet which is to be announced on Friday. The new cabinet is expected to be much smaller than the over-sized last cabinet (39) of Justin Trudeau. Carney’s cabinet will reflect war footing with about 20 ministers to battle Trump and his tariffs.

Freeland has already occupied all the senior portfolios in the Trudeau governments, foreign affairs, finance minister and deputy prime minister. She is unlikely to receive any of these this time; however, an ambassadorship to a country such as Ukraine, where she is highly respected due to her advocacy for Ukraine and against Russia’s Vladimir Putin, when working as a journalist there earlier in her life.

As Canada nears the day when she renews her national leadership, followed by a federal election, U.S. President Donald Trump demonstrated on Tuesday his true character with his disturbing congressional address.

Trump wanted to give the impression he is a man of steel. Certainly, his well-choreographed speech showed that he is no slouch. Yet, by week’s end his “Mr. Disturber” approach to his imposition of tariffs began to melt.

On Thursday, he put off all tariffs against Canada and Mexico for a month. He backed off, not out of the goodness of his heart, but because the American stock market, something he watches very carefully, has tanked. We should not underestimate Trump, but in portraying himself as a man of steel, he has shown Canada and the world that he is a bully.

Like all bullies, he is a coward.
 
This week at the Capitol, Trump was like a puppet master introducing hard luck individuals in the galleries, his voice dripping with emotion. Trump preyed on the tough circumstances of these folks to bring credit to himself. All the while, he surrounded himself with billionaires he calls his friends, many of whom he appointed as members of his cabinet.

There are plenty of signs that Canadians are fed up with Donald Trump and his buddies and are not going to take it anymore. None the less, this sentiment is being expressed very visibly with good old-fashioned patriotism. Here are a few examples:

Note the response to Connor McDavid’s overtime goal to win the Four Nations Face Off in Boston. This writer was watching the big game in a Canadian-owned Boston Pizza outlet, when the greatest hockey player in the world scored his goal. Every man and woman launched into gleeful shouts, hugging complete strangers in triumph.

Secondly, all five of Canada’s surviving former prime ministers, three of them Conservative and two Liberal, urged Canadians to fly the red and white Maple Leaf flag on Feb. 15th the 60th anniversary of the blessing of the flag during Lester Pearson’s time as PM.

Across Canada, the Maple Leaf Flag began sprouting in doorways and driveways. One interesting case in point occurred in Saint Andrews, N.B., where Mary Casement, who dresses the stuffed beaver outside her home according to the season and the weather, happily festooned her pet beaver in Maple Leaf flags.

A third example can be found far away.

Canadian men’s soccer national team head coach Jesse Marsch, an American, issued a strong rebuke to President Trump’s comments on Canada potentially becoming the 51st state of the United States. Marsch called Trump’s persistent comments “unsettling and frankly insulting.”

“Canada is a strong, independent nation that is deep-rooted in decency…and it’s a place that values high ethics and respect,” Marsch said.
Bravo Mr. Marsch.

New stars and Maple Leaf flags have emerged in the Canadian firmament during this time of uncertainty and calls for action against U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariffs.

Who in Canada would not be pleased to see five living former Prime Ministers, both Conservatives and Liberals: Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, and Stephen Harper urging Canadians to fly the Canadian flag this Saturday for the 60th Anniversary of the official launch of the Maple Leaf Drapeau.

We also see that this time is one for special pride in our national game, with our best hockey players competing now in the Four Nations Face-Off with those of Sweden, Finland and the USA. More about this later.

Many of the new stars are among the Premiers of the provinces and we will consider several of them here. In later columns, the Against the Flow blog will go on to consider some of the political players at the federal level. For now, though, the Premiers stack up as follows:
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David Eby of British Columbia has been standing tall. He voices clear opposition to Mr. Trump (hereafter Trump) and his total disrespect for our country’s sovereignty. Premier Eby has also been on the ball in terms of continued development of the BC economy in his reaction to Trump’s announced 50+% tariff on BC’s aluminum production at Kitimat. Eby notes that BC’s efforts to market its aluminum in Europe are already well advanced, and alternate markets are popular among all the Premiers.

Manitoba’s Wab Kinew has been very impressive, such as impeccably fielding questions from reporters in Washington DC in both Canadian official languages. He deftly handled questions about who exactly he met in the US capital, by smiling and pointing out that as a person with some broadcast experience he knows it would make for very boring television if he rhymed off a whole list of names.

This was a kindly and much more effective way of answering, rather than delivering an abrupt “No.”  Kinew is currently the Premier with the highest approval ratings among the thirteen Premiers.

Doug Ford of Ontario, while his election call remains somewhat suspect, has continued his fight to head Trump off at the pass. He was able to prompt other Premiers to stiffen their backbone with his threats to cut off the sale of American alcohol products and drastically reduce power exports to the States. Such counter measures are on the back burner for now. Meanwhile, Premier Ford will probably receive the big majority he is seeking in the Ontario election.

As the newcomer among the Premiers, Susan Holt cannily did not attempt to jump loudly onto the national stage. Yet, Premier Holt has accomplished a great deal in her first one hundred days in office, such as a universal school breakfast program for the province’s public schools; a rent cap of 3% effective Feb. 1.; and a 10% power rebate on electricity usage as of January of this year. She also continues to work in her travels South of the border on behalf of New Brunswick’s strong industries including agricultural produce, processed foodstuffs like French Fries; seafood; lumber and other forestry products; and refined oil products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
 
Premier Andrew Furey of Newfoundland and Labrador stands strongly for Canadian sovereignty, even though his wife is an American and he did his residency as a physician in the United States. Mr. Furey shows his strong commitment to Canada while reminding Americans about Newfoundlanders’ warm hospitality shown during the grounding of American passenger jets at Gander in 911. Who could argue with that?
 
Conservative Premier of Prince Edward Island, Dennis King is like the Little Engine that Could, chugging off to the New England states selling his province’s wares from potatoes to seafood.
 
Premier Scott Moe of Saskatchewan, the dean of the Premiers, has come into his own during this tariff-fighting period. He points out very clearly the importance of his province’s heavy production of potash, a vital ingredient for the US and Canadian agriculture industry.
Moe leads the province that is one of the world’s foremost bread baskets, even more important since Ukraine grain exports have had to be curtailed because of Russian’s invasion of that country.
 
Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Danelle Smith appears to have largely folded the tent on her “go-it-alone” campaign away from the Team Canada approach of most of her colleagues. With even some of her own Albertans disagreeing with her strident pro-Alberta approach, Smith took a relatively quiet role during the Premiers visit to Washington this past week.
 
One of the interesting consequences of the Trump tariff threat, has been Quebec’s interest very much in line with the rest of the country. Quebec Premier Francois Legault has a massive problem on his hands with the 50%+ Trump tariff on aluminum products, used heavily in the American automobile and aircraft industries, among others. The aluminum industry employs hundreds of thousands of Quebecers in well-paying jobs. Legault, never one to embrace Canada in the normal scheme of things, sees the value now of being an active Team Canada player.
 
The Premier with the most to be proud about this week is Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston , who, in addition to being one of the first Atlantic Premiers declaring his readiness to pull U.S. alcohol products off the shelves of government liquor stores, had three terrific Nova Scotia hockey players: Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Brad Marchand playing prominent roles in the Four Nations Face-Off tournament featuring Canada, Sweden, Finland and the U.S.A.
 
Anyone who saw in person or on television the Four Nations game Wednesday night between Sweden and Canada, probably felt their heart swell as they saw, playing together on Team Canada, the Captain, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid, Assistant Captain and arguably now the best hockey player in the world.
 
Looking sharp in their red Canada retro jerseys, McDavid and Crosby shone throughout the game. McDavid had one assist, and ‘Sid the Kid’ had three assists, including one on the overtime victory goal by Mitch Marner. In fact, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston had every reason to be proud of his Nova Scotia boys, with Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand each scoring a goal.